delicious

if you don't know what it is. find out. i heart delicious. life feels pretty delicious without deadlines and more time to read for sport. i am happily self teaching about...

community economic development
local food
greek mythology
spirituality

again delicious.

Eleven

Online Communities Elluminate Eleven
I missed this awesome Elluminate and am now catching up to the topic covered about creating and maintaining online communities. Quite excellent juicy content. What amazing information about online facilitation! As a budding entrepreneur with the goal of launching my first venture through a virtual office platform for project management infomation in tandem with face to face power meetings together are my personal hopes and dreams for the future. I found Nancy's talk to be very pertinent and to give me provoctive material to think about. Online facilitation is certainly a learned skill and helpful with conducting face to face facilitation that is necessary to educating others about your "offering" as a budding social engineer of business. Hey that's got a nice ring to it. While watching the Elluminate I live blogged. My new favorite way to capture a entry way into a portal of a particular point in space and time. And by the way I see that my absence was noted in the class and I sincerely apologize.

I must admit that I have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug as my team and I were debuting our pitch to real world investors outside of the controlled environment of the BGI classroom. I was so engaged in our local food and living economy project I got tunnel vision. I am however still completely infatuated with the long term folksonomy implication of this pioneering class into social media and social change class. It will be the cornerstone of my creative work. Eighteen months for now I would like to conduct an experiment in the learning journal to record my prediction of massive traction in regards to fostering social change locally, nationally, and internationally. I am ambitious. I've got nothing to lose. I am excited about growing my digital identities. One as Hip Hip Namaste focused on art. consciousness. sustainability and my professional alter ego of a passionate capital campaign for sustainable industry.

Can't wait to dig in and do more research. Fabulous learnings for me tonight. A big appreciation to ChristorpherA for paying such careful attention to my request in the beginning of this course and was addressed in the final online class. Excellent. I really value this co-creation type of teaching style and it is very flattering to be a part of a group that is ChristopherA's social media change project. How far down the rabbit hole can we go with social change and our BGI network alone not to mention our diversified professional networks? The possibilities are infinite especially when you level the playing field with social web for social change. An engine to service the revolution. Nice.

NOTES: may want to scan following content

Me: identity
WE: community
Many: network

Online Communities Nancy
aggregation around content vs. community around relationship

distinction of human dynamics, consciousness, confidence, risk tolerance, styles, emotion

abuse of power, distributing power through appreciative inquiry

We: power trust dynamic, shared forward movement or shared blocking, place of rapid change, attention to maintenance

how is it manifest, and how it is applied?

coaching and reflective journals a method of support and distributive power

whole systems change methods/management - change handbook - world cafe, virtual teams, keeping tract of interrelated tasks. project management rapid change, scaling out

aggregation of many communities

leadership looks different in community and networks, different facilitation skills may be needed

Planning a change process, amplify and support social change work in the formal stance after we have left the program and graduate in 6 intensives

"network level" diversity of skill set and professional industries hub connection to leverage

more likely find connection we need in a wider networks might be more useful

networks
how do you stay connected visibly, tend to use community approach

how do you use each other as intermediary into networks and having practice doing that?
spidergram provision technology to community to practice
9 orientations that show up in communities
Assessment tool for clients, or other organizations
Need a digital and be visible with digital identity, crucial component

http://www.km4dev.org

Give it your attention when you have a clear outcome
Activate a network, amplification of the flag. keyword management using RSS feeds

Faster and more is not always better, how to use the network to filter and share responsibility is a fabulous strategy. where do you get into the river and when do you leave the rest to your network?

What is the most valuable things about your relationship together 12 months out? Reflect on the purpose of connection now and then later? Connections often morph into something else.
Value: stay together as a community
ie. every other month open call, whoever shows up show up
what can they say yes to? (in regards to staying in touch after graduation)

Making an offer in the point of time to connect
synchronous - may put if off, can do later
what is important right now.
async - keep a connection with the class other the time

synchronous has to be easy to say yes too is the heart beat that keeps the engine going
combining face to face online connection - mixing modalities keeps interest in a larger group

post mortem

Blink. Blink. Blink. That would be my eyes trying to adjust to the phenomenal pace of this class. I am a changed woman because of me believing in myself and cultivating the voice of personal integrity. All because I get by with a little help from my friends. My classmates came through the web during some of my darkest moments this Fall and lifted me up with their words of encouragement. At times I felt so isolated up here in the artic north thousands of miles away from the core of my BGI peeps yet through the culmination of great class discussion and exercises I still felt connected through this piece of technology that rests on my lap as we speak. Or should I say as I type. Wow. The pace of this class was swift and furious mimicking the pace of my life as a graduate student. What I really liked the most about this class are the readings, theories, and collaborative teaching style of ChristopherA. I really felt the vibe of creating the future together. And I am forever grateful for the archived info. I will most certainly be coming back for more. On my journey to peace I landed in the lap of BGI. I arrived at the water's edge of innovation and I am blinded by the brilliance of the light that reflects off of my amazing future. Yes, and...this class for sure has been the gateway drug. The possibilities are spread before me vast and endlessly exciting. "When I grow up" meaning my post BGI life I plan to continue to leverage the power of the web to do international peace work in Ayiti. Yes, I do hope to take Hip Hop Namaste on the road and continue my journey of...

Life imitates art. Living peace out loud. Building a bridge between that which is divided in two. Thanks to this class and the powerful branding exercise I am able to OWN the POWER of me.

Eat, Drink, and Save the world! Social media in action!

SLOW FOODS THANKSGIVING 2009

Slow Foods and Buy Nothing Day have intersected and culminated in Mauri Parks and Miriam Easley's Social Media project for Using the Social Web for Social Change. We are two 2010 BGI graduate C7 hopefuls that are great friends, Islandwood roommates, and budding change agents who want to influence our sphere of influence and encourage you to practice your sustainability leadership skills within your own sphere of influence this holiday season. Pay it forward sustainability style. Thanksgiving is a harvest of food and blessings. Let's celebrate that together!

Instructions:
Eat, drink, and Save the world! No action is too big or small, Yes we can!
EAT & DRINK locally; engage in meaningful conversation among friends on Buy Nothing Day November 27th otherwise known as "Black Friday"
No matter how you get involved let us know your plans
Leave a comment on Mauri Parks or Miriam Easley's blogspot hip hop namaste or greengov


Action Ideas:
Engage in a national twitter online live feed on Friday BND hosted by Adbusters #BND09
Engage a perfect stranger with the a provocative question around consumerism, sustainability, and climate change and post the question in your social media network
Send us your photos
Send us a video log
Post your own blog and link to our blog or eat, drink, and save the world website
Pledge to do your own event

Stay tuned. Tomorrow the website will be unveiled. Keep checking in on our blogs for more information.

Ride the swell of a collective consciousness social media project. Love and gratitude.

Mauri and Miriam

exorcism

Dear other BGI faculty,
In response to ChristopherA's request that we post in our learning journal what we find valuable about the experience, it has been taking my LPD skills on center stage. I am actually practicing all of those things that we talk about and have been applying the processes to my visible thoughts on the web. I have grown tremendously this quarter by exposing my naked vulnerabilities online. And my worst fear came true and it was a "safe test" that my head did not turn around backwards exorcist style as I expected. The fear regarding sharing personal painful experiences and memories around race can be scary. Sure enough, I post some deep raw feelings and then I get attacked personally by someone who thought it would be grand to hurl racist words and epithets through cyber space at me. Why is this reoccurring theme in my life showing up yet again?

Over and over this happens. Oh you are just walking down the street, I'll shout ni**er because that is super clever. Oh you belittle an artistic expression of the spelling of the word "rize" that is in reference to a hip hop documentary produced by a famous photographer and then call me the fool. This is distinctly why I have no desire at all to visit the south with it's history of the deep seated culture of racism of America, and what happened? The south, a resident of Georgia to be precise, came to me through the computer calling me a fool and hip hop artists "neo-coons". Funny thing though I agree with him in some respects that corporate hip hop has become too commercialized into pop and really quite silly but I don't agree with hurting my feelings because you feel like you have the privilege to do so. I did sleep under the bridge, broke and destitute through an emotional firestorm. ("homeless under the bridge" common language at BGI of first year LPD exploration into Kegan Lahey of hitting rock bottom.) Instead of spiraling down into anger and depression like I usually do I am trying to hold space for creating a world that I would like to see. That's all I can do. I will not feed the darkness of another, I have enough all on my own thank you very much. I used to hate the whole notion of being "public" on here and in just a few short weeks later I feel empowered enough to let go of self limiting expectations bolstered by the silence of deep autumn. I've been called a coon. I've been called a fool. I've been called worse but I strive to only live well. And that Mr. racist resident of Georgia guy, not even your hate speech can take away my stride. That's what my learning journal has allowed me to do. Organizing my thoughts into integrity that allows for public scrutiny commenced in an eloquent way.
bringing grace back.
The only rule of my personal learning journal in regards to punctuation, spelling, content, etc. are you ready?
this is the best part Ever.
the rules here are mine.

in my own voice. in my own time.
MP

super racist people are mean and hurt my feelings. dang it.

Living dangerously

Intensive 2 of year 2 of my BGI odyssey 2009-2010 school year was absolutely fantastic! For the first time ever I left energized instead of depleted. On a high note I feel exhilirated to have finally completed my video for my blog. I lamented for weeks about putting my words on the internet much less my voice, and my face. Okay here I go. If there is one thing that I learned about BGI it will stretch you beyond your wildest imagination. And really, now that the video is done and out there for the world to see I still feel the same and quite possibly way better. In LPD parlance this would be considered a "safe test". Healing comes in many forms and I am not too proud to embrace it in whatever form it may show up. There is a saying at BGI, "a safe place to live dangerously". Yeah I'm turning into quite an adrenaline junky. Maybe even an addict.

Liberating fear

Learning more everyday. Overcoming many identity issues of self. Who would have thought it would show up in the lap of social media? Blogging your thoughts and true feelings affords a certain freedom to truly represent yourself. Communicating at your highest self is often challenging yet amazingly empowering too. A weird mixture of liberated fear. What an amazing intersection of creation? I like it here. I could get used to it.

Playing catch up

Okay so I admit it out loud in writing. I am constantly behind in the class using the social web for social change. Early last week I spent 9 solid hours in front of the computer and I felt "caught up" for umm... about a milisecond. And then fell into despair because my life as it is barely allows for half of that time to be spent on school daily when I would LOVE to spend 4.5 hours a day on this class alone. I am a full time mother to an amazing four year old boy, I work, and do my best at being a full time graduate business school student. I am growing weary. So here I am up in the wee hours of the night dedicating this evening to getting caught up in this class by any means necessary. And of course those of you who know me can vouch for the accompanying big 32 ounce glass kerr jar of Guayaki yerba mate my most favorite beverage in THE entire world! (For those of you who don't know it is not mate that rhymes with skate but pronounced ma-tay.) And so I began the search of social change videoes to mark in my delicious account. First cast into the untamed waters of the internet. Whammo. I hooked right into a video entitled health and social justice. Those four words sum up what landed me on BGI's metaphorical front porch. Health is a basic human right not a luxury.

what action in your life is worth duplication?

simultaneously horrified and super giddy and excited about our meme video and upcoming social change project. wow.

Identity, finding my voice.

Brilliant yellow leaves of the fall reminds me cool crisp beautiful death to thoughts and things that do not serve me. Adjusting to my new role of creation within the blogosphere is very intimidating, enough so that if I continue to think about it I might start feeling a little queasy with shallow breath. But "I am too scared of being a coward" (that is a quote out of something I've watched lately, bonus points to whoever can tell me) so I have plunged into a folksomony project comprised of the most amazing cast of Bainbridge Graduate Institute faculty, staff, and students. An ecosystem of humanity recorded in the modern way of sharing information, gently displacing ink and pen, we are bearing witness to another evolutionary turn of technology and time.

Doing my best to wrestle down the demons into a chokehold and observe them wiggle to be free, I feel the elation of courage, looking fear in the eye and then watching the demon evaporate into a thin wisp of reconfigured energy. Personal branding turned into a doozie knocking me for an unexpected loop and I decided that officially all of my classes can now be called learning and personal development, or simply LPD. I say this a bit tongue in cheek, but the truth of it is striking. My second year, I often find myself communicating in very intense emotional ways creating the most luminescent moments of connection during business school. We all share belief before victory. I can feel it in closing circle.

And... after complete reflection upon the branding exercise I separated the post it notes into two piles heading 1 was Mother, heading 2 Feisty and Fierce. Divine feminine can show you extreme beauty and danger and also the painful necessity of death and transformation. Just like mother earth. And on this day forward and forever more I declare my love for and wed thee sustainability until death do us part.

new blog execerpt hiphop namaste: "Finally I have risen to the surface to meet the reflection of myself diving into a long deep abyss into the shadows. I suppose we could call this my cyber blogosphere coming out party. After several weeks of deliberation and dissection of mental models I finally landed in the brave new world of me. The evolution of my voice in my own time."

Elusive Personal Brand

As mentioned before I am really hitting a wall. I am riding on an amazing tidal wave of potential energy that may propel me into an amazing space and with equal probability of outcome I may become a mangled mass of smashed bones and blood. I find google reader to be unwieldy and I feel like my hands are all greasy and I can't quite grasp it every time I do it just smashes to the floor against a hard edge of my tolerance and patience. This feeds into clouding my general feelings of enjoyment of the class. In the beginning I was super excited to leverage social media tool to create a carrotmob of conscious consumers who vote with their dollars. Now I am barely keeping my head above water forget about anything fun and inspiring just racing to keep up with an unobtainable finish line continually tripping over the ragged edges of my peasant clothing. In the next several postings I will be working backwards to try to get grounded and back on track with the class and re-align with my personal power. I think in my last post Bonnie made an interesting comment about me "owning my power". How do you own it if you don't even know what it is? The eternal paradox. I suppose I am extremely adept at projecting an image of power, but at the end of the day I feel depleted instead of inspired when I delve into my inner realms. In some ways I am stuck in a rut seeking success but unwilling to believe in myself to make it come true.

tick tock

Much gratitude to Kiki who took the time to answer my question about my reticence to start a blog, what if I die tomorrow and she reminded me to not over think it. Wow. Did she ever nail it! If I could get paid for overthinking things I would be richer than that 1% who hold all of the money and assets in the world.

I had this erroneous notion that this second year of BGI would not be as intense as the first year. Boy was I wrong. I am still reeling from intensive one and having a hard time integrating last year with this year. I wish I could just slow down time so I could think and gather those nebulous thought clouds from around my head. I keep bumping up against all of these competing commitments regarding my personal brand and the road to success. Creativity and right livelyhood and my personal brand are at a crossroads. I am beginning to wake up the fact that I was attracted to BGI because I don't have a clearly defined identity. My great strength of dexterity as a social chameleon has now become my weakness. I am having serious trouble separating me out from others. My self is buried. Sifting through the layers are exhausting. I just want to stop time, sleep, catch up on all my reading, meditate, eat and then wake up only my son so I could spend time with him and only him without the tick tock of the clock breathing down my neck.

What if I die tomorrow?

Intensive 1 was amazingly stimulating in terms of exploring personal brand. For the past week I have been thinking deeply about my own personal brand and how to capture my essence that quite possibly could become immortalized in words. Is what I have to say today profound enough to be recorded forever? What if I die tomorrow and don't have time to edit?

I am quite fascinated with the idea of creating my own living breathing document which is how I have come to conceptualize a "blog". I find it a bit intimidating to be in charge of a sustainability beat for BGI because I am fearful of my words coming back to haunt me. My thoughts and feelings are constantly morphing and I am still trying to figure out how to simultaneously preserve my privacy, have confidence in creating my personal brand, and all while trying to figure out who I am.

co-create

The word has taken on a technicolor kaleidoscope multidimensional shift for me as I reflect on the key concepts thus far. There is a vast opportunity to simultaneously grow individual personal brand along with the evolving culture and brand of bgi that each of us continue to co-create.

sustainability peace corp

Using the social web for social change is an intriguing concept that is interesting from an economic standpoint as well as a social justice lens. Using the web to earn money from home (satellite office) allows for an entire new breed of entrepreneurs and activists. The web really is a great way to level the political playing field offering up an opportunity to organize and engage into meaningful conversations around some of the most pressing threats to human and planetary health. How can bgi leverage the web to accomplish multiple goals/initiatives locally to reach a much needed critical mass of consciousness? How do you translate a bgi online presence into offline action out there on the ground making it happen; green building, vertical gardens, renewable energy systems internationally, etc. Think bgi sustainability grad meets the peace corp.